Did
you have a good Halloween?
We did! None of us got around to putting on any costumes, but
we carved a lot of pumpkins, and 42 kids came to our door asking
for free candy. As usual, some of the costumes were great and
others were non-existent, but it's a tradition I love and whole-heartedly
support. Thanks for stopping by, kids!

We went a little crazy with the pumpkins this year, and by
we I mean Alison. The online
photo album contains pictures of all the pumpkins we did,
but the one you see here was the hands-down winner, partly due
just to its size... this was a REALLY big pumpkin! It weighed
117 pounds before Alison cut into it!

To give you an idea of just how big this pumpkin was, take
note of the frog's bulging eyeballs. Those are other pumpkins!

You can also tell how big this pumpkin from this photo Alvaro
took on the day Alison bought it. As you can see, she liked it
so much she just had to get it!

It
was the biggest pumpkin ever carved at any of Kristin's 20 pumpkin carving
parties, although it wasn't actually carved until the following
night. (Alison was busy carving a Totoro pumpkin, among others,
during the official party.) It took a long time to create the
giant frog, too; she was just getting started when I left to
go to a poker game, and when I got back 6 hours later (after
winning $17), she was still working on it!

In other news, Kristin's grandmother Holtzen has finally passed
away, after a 92 year adventure here on Earth. On Saturday, we
attended her memorial service, and it was touching -- just exactly
what she would have wanted. Kristin
read a letter Gma had written about 10 years ago, describing
how happy she'd been with her life.

After the service, we went to the impromptu family reunion
that funerals always cause, where Kristin enjoyed a few games
of EcoFluxx
with her sister, who now lives in Texas, and her cousins, who
live in California and Arizona.

We came home that day with several paintings
Gma Holtzen had done, and fond reflections on how she had inspired
those around her with her energy. Rest in peace, Gma!

Thanks
for reading, have a great week, and Don't Forget to Play!

Perhaps you've heard that the Rockettes (of Radio City Music
Hall) have gone on strike, just as their huge Christmas Spectacular
was ready to begin. Our friend Dawn
designed a bunch of the sets for the production, so we're really
hoping they can work things out so that the show can go on. But
if they don't, Kristin & Alison & Petra will have the
dubious distinction of being among the few who actually got to
see the show this year, since they took a quick day trip to NYC
on Tuesday to see a dress rehearsal performance (for which Dawn
had comp tickets). They say it was an awesome show... let's hope
everyone else who wants to see it will get the chance!

"Colorado authorities promptly announced their intention
to ignore the collective will of the state's largest city.
Because the ballot question creates only a city ordinance, Attorney
General John Suthers said Denver police would still go after
pot smokers by bringing charges under state law. Mr.
Suthers labeled the vote 'unconstructive' and was backed up by
Denver's mayor and city attorney. When did majority votes that
limit the power of the government cease to count in this country?" -- Las
Vegas Review-Journal editorial, on the occasion of Denver's
vote in favor of marijuana legalization

"Yoder admitted on January 18 [1968] that he had made
the whole thing up because of his 'concern over illegal LSD use
by children.' The 'distraught and upset' Commissioner Yoder was
immediately suspended from his post as he checked himself into
the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, where he spent four weeks
before being permanently removed from his position with the Welfare
Department. (Although Dr. Norman Yoder is the name now mentioned
whenever this story is discussed, the creation of this legend
should be credited to the anonymous hoaxster[s] who had planted
the 'blinded students' articles in California newspapers eight
months earlier.) As usual, the unraveling of the legend received
far less attention from the press than its sensational outbreak
had produced, and it remained a widely believed drug horror story
throughout the next decade." -- Snopes,
"Blinded
by the Light"

"A coworker on a traveling job with me made
me play Fluxx all over the country, in bars, cafes, RV repair
place waiting rooms... I bought my own deck in Louisville, and
then I taught it to my cousin in California. It's been a long
journey." -- Stephanie D, comments with
order #79212